1992? Text messaging is a lot older than that. Perhaps they are referring to text messaging being integrated with cellular/PCS handsets? Because we had those great big two way Motorola Advisor pagers back in the 80's.

KawaiiNot:I don't buy that tweeting is replacing txt messaging. Twitter is where cats, dogs, and celebrities go to talk self-absorbed smack. SMS messaging will always be needed for sexting I imagine.

Seriously. Well... other than sexting, texting is my default communication, especially at work with anyone and with coworkers. If it's urgent, then there's a call before or after. But I can choose when to look at a text, and I can do it while waiting for someone to pick up the phone or while waiting for something to download. If it's not urgent but needs response, it's still there in my inbox when I get a second to respond as opposed to saving a voicemail and going back, or scribbling a note while listening to it and not forgetting where I put it an hour later...

I hate voicemail.

And Twitter doesn't exactly work for messages I don't want to broadcast to freaking everyone. Since I'm generally not an AW, texting it is.

KawaiiNot:I don't buy that tweeting is replacing txt messaging. Twitter is where cats, dogs, and celebrities go to talk self-absorbed smack. SMS messaging will always be needed for sexting I imagine.

SMS is the single instant messaging platform that *everyone* has and all you have to have is their phone number. Email is not an SMS replacement. All popular IM platforms are proprietary... even if you have one that's interoperable, you have to convince your friends to sign up for it. Jabber really should be a standard across all mobile carriers. Jabber, if implemented properly, is basically the IM of email - if you know my email address, and that server is running Jabber, then you can chat with me. Gmail and Facebook both use Jabber, but they can't talk outside their own domains, as far as I can tell. I set up a Jabber server and tried to talk to a facebook address with it and it didn't work, but facebook does work with generic Jabber clients. I hope we do advance beyond SMS at some point, but we haven't yet, not in the main way that matters.

InternetSecurityGuard:1992? Text messaging is a lot older than that. Perhaps they are referring to text messaging being integrated with cellular/PCS handsets? Because we had those great big two way Motorola Advisor pagers back in the 80's.

They might mean phone based IM services like Kik messengers. Basically a way to text without giving out your number. You can block people, see who read your messages, a few other things. But it's for phones, not IMing like the old AIM or MSN stuff.

Fizpez:You mean you wont need to pay $20 extra a month for unlimited texts that, even if you texted 24 hours a day for the entire month, would cost your provider about 25 cents total? that text messaging?

Don't worry, the phone companies will find other ways to bend their customers over.

/ the really nice ones will kiss you first// lube will still cost extra

I had to ask my stepdaughter's boyfriend how to turn her phone off today. I do 3D modeling of buildings and have no idea about smartphones. Is this why I still search on ebay for an adfeet? I should have stolen that when I left my first architectural job. Those things are great.

I send more than 193 IM, texts, and iMessages in ant given day. Somehow I'm not buying that 12 to 15 year olds aren't sending that many in an hour.

Do you really send that many a day? How many are one or two-word responses (something teens seem to do a lot)?

One of my admins at work likes to have extended discussions via text, and I find it disruptive to constantly have to stop what I'm doing to respond. Helluva lot faster to just actually dial the phone and speak.

I broke down and got a smartphone a couple of months ago. My texting, Google Chat, FB messaging, and similar all have apps. I don't really care how someone contacts me, the end result looks and acts about the same on my end.

Neondistraction:Fizpez: You mean you wont need to pay $20 extra a month for unlimited texts that, even if you texted 24 hours a day for the entire month, would cost your provider about 25 cents total? that text messaging?

Don't worry, the phone companies will find other ways to bend their customers over.

/ the really nice ones will kiss you first// lube will still cost extra

After a month of video chatting free with my girlfriend for free on skype while she was in India, I wonder how phone companies didn't make such sorcery against the law.

Lydia_C:gingerjet: FTFA The average 12 to 15-year-old send 193 texts a week

I send more than 193 IM, texts, and iMessages in ant given day. Somehow I'm not buying that 12 to 15 year olds aren't sending that many in an hour.

Do you really send that many a day? How many are one or two-word responses (something teens seem to do a lot)?

One of my admins at work likes to have extended discussions via text, and I find it disruptive to constantly have to stop what I'm doing to respond. Helluva lot faster to just actually dial the phone and speak.

Eh, you can respond when you like, and don't have to sustain filler conversation. Good for running battle conversations